droga

drug

noun DROH-gah Less Common

Origin: From Dutch droog (dry goods), entering Italian via trade routes.

Also means

spice (archaic/regional)

Usage Note

Droga is feminine. In modern Italian it almost exclusively means an illegal narcotic drug — le droghe (drugs). The archaic sense of 'spice' (from the same Dutch origin as English 'drug') is no longer current in everyday speech. The verb drogarsi means 'to take drugs (reflexive)'; drogare can mean 'to drug someone'. Droga is a false friend for English 'drug' in the pharmaceutical sense — use farmaco or medicina for medicine.

Examples

"La lotta contro la droga è difficile."

Natural Translation

The fight against drugs is difficult.

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